The Marshwood High boys’ basketball team reached rare heights with its 46-34 victory over Greely in a Class A South semifinal Wednesday night at the Portland Expo.
It’s the first time the Hawks have advanced to a regional final since 1997 in Class B. Marshwood hadn’t even appeared in a regional semifinal since 2006. The program has never played for a state championship.
But winning playoff games is nothing new for the players on this year’s team. Four of the starting five and two key reserves were part of either the Class A soccer or Class B football state championship teams in the fall.
That includes Chris Reuning, a senior guard who was a football tight end. He carried the offensive load in the first half with 13 of the Hawks’ 17 points and finished with 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting, with two 3-pointers. His only miss was a 35-footer that drew iron at the end of the first half.
“It’s uncharted territory for basketball, but then again, going back to the fall sports, it’s pretty familiar to most of us,” Reuning said. “I definitely think we’re pretty comfortable with the situation we’re in.”
Aidan Sullivan, a quarterback in the fall, struggled with his outside shot but contributed six points and six rebounds. Soccer standouts Trevor Wozny and Jason Singer shadowed Greely’s top scoring threat, Andrew St. Hilaire, with sticky man-to-man defense, holding him to nine points while combining to score 12 of their own. Former fullbacks Andrew Goodwin (football) and Danny Thim (soccer) contributed to the overall team defense.
Third-seeded Marshwood (14-5) will play top-seeded Falmouth in the regional final, weather permitting, at 8:45 p.m. Friday at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland. Falmouth beat the Hawks twice this season, 64-46 in Falmouth on Dec. 17, and 57-49 in South Berwick on Jan. 24.
Second-seeded Greely finished 12-8.
Reuning kept Marshwood afloat in the first half while leading scorers Sullivan and Andrew Perry struggled to get into the flow and Perry picked up two early fouls. Reuning hit from a variety of spots, including deep in the paint with good hesitation moves to create air space.
“He was outstanding the whole game, but that first half, if it wasn’t for him we would have been looking bleak offensively,” said Marshwood Coach Bobby Pratt. “He is a tough matchup for other teams because he’s our third guy, but we have had a change in our play the last two weeks and it’s really because Chris has been just dynamic on offense.”
Perry came through in the second half with all 10 of his points, including a 3-pointer out of a timeout after a 6-0 Greely run cut the lead to 34-32 with 3:29 to play.
Wozny backed up Perry’s 3-pointer with a steal and layup, and Marshwood was in the midst of a 12-2 closing run while Greely misfired and finished the night 14 of 44 from the floor.
“Just couldn’t make shots. Our goal was to keep them under 45 points, so we were pretty close,” said Greely Coach Travis Seaver. “The first quarter, we probably left eight, 10 points on the court by missing some easy ones, and the second half it just continued.”
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